Mathew Withau vs. Gaara
Mathew Withau vs. Gaara is a battle that takes place during the Third Exam of the 2007 Mid-Year Chunin Selection Exams. It is a fight between Hidden Leaf genin Mathew Withau and Hidden Sand genin Gaara. Prelude Taking place a month after the preliminary matches, the remaining candidates in the Chunin Exams take part in one-on-one elimination matches to discern who will advance to the chunin level. As Matt and Gaara step into the arena, Naruto is indignant about his friend and teammate having to fight such a powerful opponent. Naruto expects Kakashi to be fearful, but instead finds that their sensei is in fact confident in Matt's abilities. As Matt and Gaara prepare themselves, the match begins. Battle Gaara immediately activates his Shukaku Sand Jutsu, using his signature technique to prepare for Matt's attack. Matt immediately opens up with the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu, but Gaara's sand fends off the attack. Matt follows through by a direct taijutsu strike on Gaara, but Gaara's sand defense wards this off as well, and then attacks Matt. The sand sends Matt flying away, but Matt immediately gets back to his feet and uses the Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu. Gaara blocks this attack as well, and then returns fire with the Sand Shuriken, firing off a barrage of shots at Matt. Matt evades them by escaping to the wall of the arena, and Gaara follows through by attacking multiple times with his sand. Matt's high speed allows him to easily dodge the attacks, and he works his way around Gaara's sand defense to deal a direct blow to him. However, Gaara's Sand Armor absorbs the attack, and Gaara rises back to his feet without injury to continue fighting. Matt attacks Gaara again, but when the Sand shinobi evades the strike, Matt uses the Fire Style: Dragon Darts to attack from a distance. Gaara blocks the Dragon Darts with his sand shield once again, and he fires more Sand Shuriken in retaliation, which Matt easily dodges. The Sand Shuriken follow Matt through the air, and Matt uses a kunai to slash them all away. Gaara uses this distraction to attack Matt with more sand, and Matt is caught off guard as he is dragged down and slammed into the ground. Gaara attacks Matt while he is down, knocking him back into the wall of the arena, and Matt is stalled by pain in getting back up. Gaara waits for Matt to get back to his feet, and when Matt does he immediately gains some distance between himself and his opponent, pulling out shuriken. Incapable of finding a proper chance to use his weapons, Matt is forced to evade Gaara's sand strike. Gaara then follows through by firing more Sand Shuriken at Matt, but Matt uses his shuriken to intercept them all, leaving him unharmed. Gaara uses his Sand Shower technique to injure Matt in a way reminiscent of how Hinata Hyuga had in their battle, but Matt uses one of his new jutsu, the Wind Style: Air Shield to intercept the assault. Matt drops down to the ground as Gaara recalls all of his sand back to him, and he then attacks Matt from below, grabbing him with an arm of sand that has taken the form of the Shukaku. Matt is held in place as Gaara attacks him with more sand, but Matt uses three fire-kunai to destroy all of the sand, freeing himself while neutralizing Gaara's attack. Matt ponders to himself how he had previously sneaked out of the arena to grab more weapons, and how he had been spotted by both Kakashi Hatake and Tsunade, having taken advantage of their leniency towards him. As Gaara's sand recovers from Matt's assault, Matt uses another Phoenix Flower Jutsu to attack him, and while Gaara fends off this attack, Matt attacks him from above. Gaara evades the attack, and Matt's strength brings up dust around him. Matt escapes the dust right before Gaara's sand attacks it, and Gaara then fires four Sand Shuriken up at Matt. Matt evades the Sand Shuriken, and he throws more fire-kunai down at Gaara, whose sand shield blocks the knives and absorbs the explosions. Matt summons all of his speed to make one powerful attack against Gaara while he is distracted, but Gaara combines Sand Clone with Substitution Jutsu to evade the assault. Gaara uses his sand to bring himself into the air, and he attacks Matt with Sand Shower, injuring him and knocking him off his feet. Matt initiates a counterstrike against Gaara, but his sand effortlessly deflects it. With Gaara able to easily fend off long-range techniques and out of range of melee strikes, Matt is at a serious disadvantage as he tries to come up with a way to hit Gaara with the Chidori. As Gaara retreats further up into the air, Matt's frustration levels out, and he runs up the wall and flies straight at Gaara. Gaara tries to intercept Matt, but Matt uses another fire-kunai to blow the sand away, leaving Gaara open for attack. However, Gaara captures Matt with his sand, paralyzing him with the Sand Coffin technique. Gaara tells Matt that he is sorry the fight is ending so soon, and that he had been expecting a much more tiring fight. He tells Matt that maybe after he trains more, Matt may be able to beat him. Gaara then uses his Sand Burial, crushing Matt and seemingly ending the match. However, it is revealed that Matt has used the Shadow Clone Jutsu as a decoy save himself. Matt attacks Gaara with the Chidori, but Gaara evades the attack. Gaara commends Matt on his use of the Shadow Clone technique, and Matt thanks him, responding by asking how Gaara acquired his sand jutsu. Gaara explains his painful past about how the Shukaku spirit was sealed inside of him at birth. When Gaara is finished, Matt conjures five more Shadow Clones, and as Matt states that he isn't as proficient as Naruto at the jutsu, assures Gaara that his can still be of use. Matt's Shadow Clones attack Gaara from multiple directions, but Gaara uses his Sand Defense Shell to defend himself. The counter-defensive properties of the Defense Shell allow Gaara to quickly take out all of Matt's clones, and Matt is left with little options to counter him. Gaara then uses The Third Eye in order to see Matt from within his Shell, and Matt ponders about how he will be able to get through his defense. Matt makes several attempts at breaking through the sand, but the sand's strength wards off all attacks and injures Matt multiple times in the process. Gaara then begins attacking Matt in return, using his Defense Shell as a medium for all of his sand jutsu to assault Matt over and over again. Matt's high speed isn't enough to outrun Gaara's attack, and he is hit directly by a bombardment of Sand Shuriken, knocking him to the ground. Gaara then follows through with one large Sand Shuriken, hitting Matt once again and knocking him back. Matt attempts a counterattack, but Gaara uses his sand to lift Matt into the air by the ankle, and he throws Matt into the wall, injuring him even further and leaving Matt open for a further assault. Gaara brutally attacks Matt with multiple sand attacks, pounding him further and further. Matt manages to rise back to his feet, but he is too weak to mount an effective counterattack, and he is therefore left only able to dodge. Matt uses the Substitution Jutsu as a distraction as he lands on top of the Sand Defense Shell, and he breaks apart Gaara's Third Eye technique before quickly escaping the Defense Shell's counterattack. The Third Eye reforms, and Gaara attacks Matt again. Matt dodges the first strike, then the second strike, but Gaara manages to predict Matt's movements, and he pierces Matt's leg with a needle made of sand. Matt's movements are heavily impaired by the injury, and as Gaara's sand exits the wound, Matt remembers back to his training with Kakashi. He recalls his mastering of Chidori, and then how Tsunade had visited them. Matt remembers Tsunade telling him that she has a technique to teach him, and with this, Matt uses the Ninja Art: Palm Healing Jutsu. Matt heals his wound so that he can get back up and keep fighting, and Gaara fires half a dozen Sand Shuriken down at him. When evading them fails, Matt uses a kunai to try and beat the Shuriken away, but this fails, and Matt then resorts to his Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu, blasting all of the remaining Sand Shuriken out of the air. Gaara retreats further up into the air, preventing Matt from using any melee attacks, and Matt then uses the Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu. The intense flames blast the Sand Defense Shell apart, sending embers raining down on the arena, and a large tendril of flames drops down right on top of Matt. Matt evades the tendril, letting it crash into the ground and blow Matt away, and when he looks again, Gaara has achieved a partial Shukaku transformation. Matt is severely depleted of chakra, and with Gaara's strength enhanced by the Shukaku, he wastes no time in assaulting Matt, quickly breaking down any defense Matt can put up. Gaara comments on how much his strength has enhanced, and Matt gives an indignant response. Gaara fires off more Sand Shuriken at Matt, but Matt dodges then and then uses the Phoenix Flower Jutsu against Gaara. Gaara blocks the fireballs with a wall of sand, and he then turns the wall into several dozen Sand Shuriken that all fly at Matt. Matt uses the Wind Style: Giant Air Shield to deflect all of the Shuriken, leaving Matt unharmed but lacking of chakra. Gaara brings his sand back to him, and he then attacks Matt with sand from the ground, driving Matt down and smashing him into the ground. Matt uses the Fire Style: Ember Shot, making Gaara jump out of the way, and Matt attacks him from behind. Gaara knocks him away with his Shukaku-enhanced arm, but the real Matt then attacks Gaara with shuriken as the Shadow Clone disappears. Gaara continues attacking Matt with Sand Shuriken, and when Matt manages to defend himself, he is attacked from the ground, breaking his guard while Gaara hits him directly with a Sand Shuriken. Matt is left barely conscious, thinking about how he had gotten further in the match than he originally thought he would. He also remembers how he had been afraid to fight Shino Aburame after witnessing him in battle. Matt thinks about the fact that Shino had lost so easily to Gaara's Shukaku form, and that Matt had made it much further than him. Matt then also remembers a promise he had made to Naruto about helping to bring Sasuke Uchiha back, and with this in mind, he rises back to his feet and continues fighting. Gaara attacks him, but Matt evades the assault and counters with a technique that Naruto had taught him, A Thousand Years of Death. The full effect of Matt's attack takes light, and Gaara is hit directly by three paper-bombs attached to the kunai. When the chaos dies, Gaara's Shukaku form is severely distorted by the force of the explosions, but he restores his form back to its previous state, and then allows the other half to mimic the Shukaku as well. Gaara attacks Matt with his strength enhanced even further, and Matt counters with Fire Style jutsu, which Gaara's Shukaku form absorbs without taking damage. Gaara sends his sand to attack Matt from multiple directions, but Matt uses the Shadow Clone Jutsu to switch places with him to take the attacks. Matt does this multiple times as Gaara's sand comes from all sides, combining it with Substitution to quickly switch places with the Clones, and he is able to escape all of Gaara's attacks. By this point both competitors are exhausted and severely lacking in chakra, but they continue their battle, and Matt uses his speed to try and break Gaara's guard. However, Gaara's strong defense allows him to easily brush Matt off, but Matt continues fighting, trying his best to break through Gaara's sand. Finally, Matt manages to pierce Gaara in the collar with a kunai knife, and while it is not enough to kill him, it is enough to bring the Sand shinobi to the brink of utter exhaustion. Gaara's Shukaku form breaks, and he transforms back into his original self. Being completely exhausted of chakra and physical energy, Gaara falls unconscious, leaving Matt the last man standing and therefore the winner of the battle. Aftermath As the match is concluded, the crowd cheers in admiration for Matt. However, Matt is too exhausted to pay them any mind, and he immediately passes out from exhaustion. As he and Gaara are taken away from the arena to the medical ward, the next match is slated to begin. Category:Battle